Come on mate, it's not just yesterday's game though is it. Look at the performance at Spurs, Chelsea & Man Utd at Goodison. We weren't great. These are the games that show how far you really are from the big boys and we're miles away!
It's alright being convincing against the "lesser" team shall we say and then coming away and thinking, yeah, we're not bad really, one or two quality signings and we'll be in the mix for the top spots next season. Really in those games that your expected to win, should win, you don't really learn a great deal about yourselves but in games against the top teams you do, and like yesterday, and at Spurs and Chelsea, we never turned up, never got going or showed enough and that's down to the quality, mentality and character of our players and we lack a load of those things.
You look at the team and we do have some good individuals. Joel is good but we can do better. The FB's are good. Williams is decent but put him with Jags and it's a car crash waiting to happen! Mori is decent but we need better. At CB we don't have a good enough pairing and it needs addressing.
In CM Schneiderlin is class and looks to be the sitter for Koeman in the 3. Then we have Gueye & Davies in there who imo are quite similar in style but have their own qualities. McCarthy is a bit similar to those 2 aswell I feel so there's a bit of a muchness about our CM. We do need something a bit different in there, a player that will go forward but make things happen and want to get goals and will get goals. Of late Davies as been the one to go forward and make late runs into the box but he's not entirely effective playing that role. He's been involved and created a bit but he's not one to get goals, and Gueye isn't that kind of player either. Could Barkley be dropped into the 3 to play that role? Possibly, but I'm not sure Koeman trusts him in a deeper start of position in CM and that's why he's using him out wide to accommodate Davies being in the centre.
Then that brings another issue for us, using a player like Barkley out wide. Is that going to be the solution in the long run, in Koeman's preferred 4-3-3 formation? I don't think so! So we will need another wide option or 2 cos with Bolasie out, Koeman not seeming so keen on Mirallas all of a sudden or Deulofeu, Lennon out of the picture and Lookman still very raw, we don't have great options for out wide!
And up front we know the score. If Lukaku stays, and it's a big IF right now, we still need another CF that will help Rom, keep him on his toes, push him but also be able to play with him at times and do a job. If he goes then we will need 2 strikers, maybe even 3 to try and accommodate the loss of his goals?!
So if the club and Koeman are serious about our ambitions and wanting to challenge the top four and for honours, then we need to get the quality and numbers in to do just that, simple as.
